Watersport towers allow enthusiasts to be towed behind a boat that the watersport tower is mounted on. The structure is shaped as a tower to provide a stable point for the force of a tow rope to be applied, and the tow rope is often attached to a lug also know as a tow point at the top of the tower to maintain the tow rope at an elevated position above the rear passenger area of a boat so as to improve the performance of a wakeboarder or other enthusiast. Various designs of watersport towers have been developed for this purpose.
Simple watersport towers are essentially a U-shaped portion flipped upside down and permanently coupled at the top to two additional braces. This coupling of the U-shaped piece and braces provides four legs to be attached to the boat structure. Other early shapes used are two tandem U-shaped portions flipped upside down with braces permanently extending between the U-shaped portions. These tandem U-shaped portions also provide four legs to be attached to the boat structure. These towers provide a stable structure from which to tow a wakeboarder.
However, these tower designs present drawbacks. The tower mounts are fixed resulting in a non-compliant structure that potentially causes damage to the boat structure due to the boat flexing by design during operation. The gel coat and fiberglass of the boat has been known to crack at the points of attachment of a rigidly mounted tower, especially at the bolt holes. Another drawback is that the structure is permanently fixed in place on the boat and thereby prevents a standard boat cover from being placed over the boat and/or prevents the boat from being adequately raised by an overhead boat lift due to lack of overhead clearance. An additional drawback is that the tower has its mounting points essentially fixed such that the tower cannot adapt from one size boat to another.
Other wakeboard towers include a mounting attachment to the boat that allows the front legs to detach from the boat while allowing the tower to pivot about the attachment of the rear legs. Alternatively, some allow the rear legs to detach and then allow the tower to pivot about the attachment of the front legs. This allows the tower to rotate backward for some about the attachment of the rear legs and into a reclined position or allows rotation forward about the attachment of the front legs for others. However, for some of these towers, another problem is that the front legs rest atop the windshield of the boat, applying unwanted stress to the frame of the windshield. Furthermore, the front or rear legs typically extend well above the windshield thereby continuing to hinder the use of standard boat covers and overhead boat lifts. Also, these wakeboard towers continue to present a non-compliant structure that potentially causes damage to the boat during operation, and these towers also lack the ability to adapt from one size boat to another.